1. What challenges do medical facilities face when trying to become more culturally competent?
When we work with patients and families, we need to be open to what they tell us. Cultural competence is not only a practice to engage in when the patient speaks a different language or looks different than we do, but should be engaged with every patient. Given the challenges in our everyday practices. The nurse needs to understand his/her own world views and those of the patient, while avoiding stereotyping and misapplication of scientific knowledge. Cultural competence is obtaining cultural information and then applying that knowledge. This cultural awareness allows you to see the entire picture and improves the quality of care and health outcomes.
Adapting to different cultural beliefs and practices requires flexibility and a respect for others view points.. To provide culturally appropriate care we need to know and to understand culturally influenced health behaviors. Since the perception of illness and disease and their causes varies by culture, these individual preferences affect the approaches to health care. . Health care providers must possess the ability and knowledge to communicate and to understand health behaviors influenced by culture. Having this ability and knowledge can eliminate barriers to the delivery of health care. These issues show the need for health care organizations to develop policies, practices and procedures to deliver culturally competent care.
Finally, developing culturally competent programs is an ongoing process, There seems to be no one recipe for cultural competency. It's an ongoing evaluation, as we continually adapt and reevaluate the way things are done. For nurses, cultural diversity tests our ability to truly care for patients, to demonstrate that we are not only clinically proficient but also culturally competent, that we CARE. As individuals, nurses and health care providers, we need to learn to ask questions...